Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1887-05-25
The farm aud fireside.
R%ENOYATING LANDS.

LIN" %AAS ks"N
er fertility with the smallest expenditure
of money, time and labor is a question OF
deep concern, especially to the farmers at
the East and in nearly all the uplands OF
the South. A mixed ~husbandry which
admits of a rotation is always advisable,
when this is practicable, for change means
rest in more senses than one, and we'll
worn lands require rest as we'll as DO over
worked bodies. Lands that have been
seeded down q number of years for mead
.ow or grass take most kindly to a hoed
crop, which provides the thorough tlllage
needed. The farmer who breaks up grass
land occasionally and plants it to corn, for
instance, and follows corn with oats ana
barley, and another season sows wheat, be-
fore again seeding to grass, will, to say the
least, gain a fair remuneration for the Ia
Dor expended. A fallow by which the
fresh particles of earth are exposed to the
atmosphere is followed in many instances
with a yield far exceeding the loss sustain
ed by having the ground idle, though on
some soils this is not advisable.
While a rotation of crops is always pref
cradle when the land has been long under
cultivation, there are innumerable instanc-
es where the interests of the c%ultivator ap-
pear to point to the growing of the same
crop year after year. So such farming re-
solves itself into developing from the Ia
tent stores in the soil and accommodating
enough plant food for the production of the
largest possible yield of the crop under con-
sideration. :,
Before attempting to enrich the soil with
any material or by any process it is neces-
sary for success that the farmer should as
certain as nearly as may be what lmpor-
tant elements of plant-food are deficient.
If the soil be rich in mineral substances
but poor in decayed vegetable matter, then
the application Of atmospheric acid and
potash is both labor and material expend-
are in order and will pay literally.
In the upper portion of the cotton belt,
as we'll as in many sections of the Eastern
States, clover furnishes q most valua-
BILE renovating crop, being also equally
valuable for forage. But if the land is too
impoverished to grow clover the soil may
be given over to leguminOus plants, as
field peas, which make a quick and luxu-
RANT growth under conditions that would
fail to gain a good stand of clover. Rye
and buckWheat are also much used as green
crops toturn under for manure.
When fertilizers are at hand, either in
the form of a %barnyard n and COM
post or commercial fertilizers, it becomes
q question in many instances whether it is
profitable to expend green crops for en-
riching the ground, or time in restoring it,
with naked fallows.
To render the subject of soil fertilization
as plain as possible, and thereby aid mex
perienced farmers in making a %judicious
selection of methods by which to improve
their lands, the following facts are pre-
sented for consideration: To secure a per-
manent Improvement three classes of sub
stances are necessary to the soil. Fertil-
izers embracing all the mineral elements
of plant-food and nitrogen, chemical agents
which render the plant-food available, and
mechanical agents making stiff soils fra
BILE and porous ones firm.
Farm-yard manure is a complete fertil-
izer in the sense of containing all of the
elements of plant food, but as the supply
is limited, reliance is also placed, as has
already been suggested, on green crops
turned under, the application of mineral
elements and the judicious rotation of
crops.
Phosphoric acid and potash are the min
eral elements which are exhausted in most
soils and which have to be artificially ap-
Piled. Phosphate rock and animal homes
furnish most of the phosphoric acid of
commerce. Potash is contributed in the
forms of sulphate of potash and chloride
of potassium from hard wood ashes it is
gained as carbonate. Potash is also con-
tanned in marls and other substances.
Lime is the leading chemical agent arti-
fcially applied to lands and is a most i'm
portant factor in this connection. Land
requiring more lime not ~unfrequently in
dictates this need by a growth of acid
plants, such as the ~sorrels, for instance.
Lime is furthermore counted among the
important mechanical agents. Mari and
vegetable matter are other substances
which act mechanically upon the soil.